For the Small Man with the Big Dreams

I remember when I first found favor in lifting weights. I was 16 and had a set of 20s I found laying around the house. I would hold up in my room and do as many curls of those 20lb weights that I could. Eventually this would reach 100 reps and I would have the most freakishly disproportionate arms in the high school. One girl even told me my arms looked photo shopped. (Long before Emma Stone’s character said that to Ryan Gosling’s character in Crazy Stupid Love) I would do push ups, sit ups, chest flys on my bed, and whatever else my uneducated little mind could think of to gain muscle. I really had no idea what I was doing at the time.

However, soon enough I convinced my dad to buy a family gym membership for us all and began working out on the cable and pulley machines. Even with being poorly educated on the subject and using cable machines, I began to put on a very small amount of muscle and could notice a pump after going to the gym, but I still had a form of identification with the Scrawny Mindset!

Each time, once staring at myself in the mirror pondering what others will think of me if I lost my “scrawny boy personality” and another on my dorm room futon laying there thinking I’ve become the biggest douche bag on the planet.

How to overcome what you are for what you want to be.

Total and absolute transformation. You don’t get voted most transformed by staying the same because some one wrote “Never change” on the back of a senior pic they gave to you in high school.

First things first and what we are here for. If you weren’t lifting to some degree already, start now and funnel every last ounce of food you can fit into your stomach. If you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough.

Eat healthy. Vegetables seem to be the most ignored food group as well as probably the most important. Nobody likes eating the food our normal food eats, but to make it easier we can juice them for an nutrient dense drink.

Keep an eye on your wardrobe. As you start to put on muscle you’re old clothes will start to fit better, but you definitely want to upgrade beyond your old style. The old baggy pair of jeans will not cut it.

V-necks and well fitting jeans are my personal favorite.

Find a real barber in your area and build a relation with them. There are too many men going to women’s salons for hair cuts. These women know how to hair “dress” not how to create the perfect crew cut or “high and tight”.

Brain wash yourself with a type of music that motivates and is conducive to your new self. I gravitated towards Jay Z’s hustler mindset and Glitch Mob for it’s instrumentals when I don’t want lyrics interfering with my concentration.

Become a Renaissance Man to learn everything you can about anything you can. Develop personal interests that you haven’t had before and invest in them accordingly. You will be more versed for conversations more exciting than the scoreboard of last nights game.

With all that you add into your life, you may cut out some of your old hobbies. Good. More likely than not you will not miss theses hobbies as your life begins to change and you develop constructive hobbies you enjoy more.